Frightened Rabbit bandmate and brother speaks following singer’s death

Grant Hutchison wasn’t just in a band with Scott Hutchinson, they were brothers. Now Grant has given his first interview since Scott committed suicide, and it’s powerful and open. He was speaking to Planet Radio.

“One of the main things about this is to realise and understand that this is not just Scott,” Grant said as he opened the discussion of mental health up to help people. “Anyone can go through things like this. Yes, there are certain triggers and certain people who may be more susceptible to it but there are no rules. Mental illness isn’t something that anyone’s immune to. So one person’s life who works in a supermarket or is a joiner or who works at a radio station is just as important as a singer in a band.”

“Unfortunately one of the thoughts I’ve had to deal with and think through is ‘what could I have done?’ It’s not something that I carry forever or that’s really a weight on me, but it’s obviously something that’s going to cross my mind.” This is a familiar feeling after any death, but especially suicide. “I guess the main thing I’m taking from that is that maybe at the time I wasn’t educated enough – I’m still not. I’m not saying that in the past month I’ve learned everything that there is to learn; that’s impossible. Not knowing enough is probably my biggest regret.”

“It’s not something I’ve suffered from in the same way as Scott. It’s always hard for me to empathise with that lack of experience and without having gone through it, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help. I’m not saying I didn’t help him, because I know I did – but I think education and speaking about it to people who don’t know about it is an important thing.”

If someone tries to open up to you about mental health, listen and let them speak.